1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger including spaced headers interconnected by generally parallel fluid tubes.
2. The Prior Art
Conventional heat exchangers including a first header, a second header and a plurality of parallel fluid tubes which are interconnected between the first and second headers to allow fluid flow therebetween are known in the art. A first and second union joint are connected to one end of the first and second headers, respectively, to link the heat exchanger with other elements of a cooling circuit. In general, the first header acts as an inlet to the exchanger and is disposed on one side of the exchanger at one end of each of the plurality of parallel fluid tubes, and the second header acts as an outlet for the exchanger and is disposed on an opposite side of the exchanger at the opposite ends of the tubes. Accordingly, the overall configuration of the heat exchanger is generally a rectangular shape with the inlet at one corner and the outlet at an opposite corner.
When the heat exchanger is used as part of an automobile air-conditioning cooling circuit, the circuit including the heat exchanger must be disposed in a limited area of the engine compartment. Thus, the heat exchanger must be disposed so as to conform to the predetermined size and shape of an allotted space which are determined by the location of other elements of the cooling circuit and other elements of the engine disposed in the same general area. If the other elements protrude into the limited space of the cooling circuit reserved for the heat exchanger, it might be necessary to make use of a smaller than desired heat exchanger in order to ensure that the exchanger fits into the engine compartment. However, the heat exchanger is linked to the other elements of the cooling circuit by a rubber hose, connected to the exchanger at the union joints extending from the headers. Each union joint has a predetermined length and is made of a hard metal. Thus, the union joints extend from the exchanger for a predetermined length and may not easily be reconfigured. Therefore, even if a smaller exchanger is used, it may not be possible to reduce the necessary size of the predetermined space due to the impossibility of reconfiguring the union joints.
Additionally, even if the use of a smaller than desired heat exchanger in the cooling circuit allows for a reduction in the necessary size of the predetermined space, the use of a smaller exchanger causes a detrimental result in capacity and efficiency of the cooling circuit. That is, if the exchanger is part of an air conditioning system, in order for the air conditioning system to operate efficiently, it must have a smaller than desired capacity due to the limited capacity of the smaller heat exchanger.